After a car accident, slipped on ice, fell backwards on my snowboard, or tripped over your child’s toys - most of us have experienced some degree of whiplash.
We have all heard of the term, but what does it mean exactly?
What is whiplash?
Whiplash is a term describing a medical condition in which there is a force induced on the body causing the spine to move in one direction followed quickly by the opposite direction in a whip-like fashion.
The most obvious example is whiplash after a car accident. If you were rear-ended in your car, the force of the collision makes your head move backwards quickly, followed immediately by your head moving forward quickly. The whiplike motion creates high shear forces on the spine and surrounding tissues leading to overload and damage.
What is damaged in whiplash?
Muscles are torn
Ligaments are torn
Discs can be ruptured
Nerves can be pinched or torn
Vertebrae joints can be damaged
First, let's understand how the structure or anatomy works during motion.
Your spine is made up of bones called vertebrae, discs, nerves, and ligaments. The muscles attaching to the spine can help you move, stabilize, or protect the valuable components.
In any of the above injuries - such as a car accident, the force of the impact is greater than the muscles can handle, so the muscles are torn apart. When the muscles fail, the ligaments, discs, nerves, and the vertebrae undergo excessive force. This force can lead to ligaments being torn, discs being ruptured, nerves being pinched or torn, and even damage to the bones.
Can whiplash be fixed?
The good news is that most cases of whiplash are treatable in our office. Using a combination of chiropractic, massage, and physical therapy, we can design a treatment plan specifically addressing your injury needs. Seeing a chiropractor for whiplash is helpful for decreasing pain, inflammation, and stiffness. Massage therapy for whiplash is helpful to decreasing muscle spasms. Physical therapy for whiplash is helpful to restore strength and stability to damaged muscles.
Whiplash injuries often do not fully heal on their own.
Here’s the bad news, often these injuries will not fully heal on their own and some whiplash injuries are permanent and can leave you with permanent loss of function or disability. The more severe whiplash traumas result in severe injury that may require more invasive intervention such as surgery or injections. While these injuries represent a small percentage of the injuries, it is a possibility. So schedule an appointment for an evaluation with us if you have recently suffered trauma.
We are the only integrated office in Boulder that offers chiropractic, physical therapy, and massage therapy with expertise in treating car accident patients.
If you are looking for a car accident chiropractor in Boulder, schedule an appointment today at Boulder Sports Chiropractic. We have fixed thousands of patients just like you!
Ask us about how you can use automobile insurance to fully pay for your treatment - $0 out of pocket costs to you.